Inevitable
by NeonPinkCat
Summary: Not every decision you make will change your destination, however, it will change your journey to that destination. Set after the Pein Arc, and explores Naruto's decisions regarding Hinata's involvement in his battle with Pein.


Heyy guys! Ok, so this happens to be my VERY first fanfic I have EVER written. So basically, this one is just a test to see if I should do more. This should only be about 3 chapters, however, im basing the response on my first chapter as an indication if I should continue or not. so please be nice to me!

I am actually so excited! Please like it and I'll, I'll… um give you a free pink kitten? XD so… fingers crossed for me aye!?

OH! And on a side note, I am from Australia. So some of my words may be spelled differently than what you're used to, such as 'colour', 'mum', and stuff like that. so don't go hatin' its just our thing!

**Disclaimer: I actually forgot this! I thought there was a section for this but, apparently not! Anywhoo, I do not own Naruto, or any characters associated with the series. They solely belong to the God that we know as Kishimoto-sama… **** *sorry guys, been watching/reading to many Pein scenes! XD ***

Seated on an old, splintered chunk of wood that used to be apart of the famous eatery, Ichiraku Ramen, was the Hero of Konoha himself; Uzumaki Naruto. As the villagers passed him, they rained upon him compliments, declaring him hero and insisting that they wanted him as their next hokage. He nodded politely at their attention, but he never released his gaze from the scene of his battle with Pein. The village was in such a state of ruin now, however, even from almost the very centre of the village, where Ichiraku used to be situated, he could see a straight, almost clear path to it. But the destruction that Pein inflicted didn't mean that the village couldn't recover. It may be in a state of physical ruin, yet, the will of fire that resided inside every one of the members of Konoha ensured the return of the village's former splendor.

As the day wore on and evening was close at hand, people became scarce and he was bothered no longer. Taking advantage of the calm, he controlled his breathing to a slow and monotonous rhythm and stilled his movements, absorbing the natural energy around him. When he next opened his eyes, they had changed to a shade of yellow; with the irises resembling those of a toad and he had a flare of red colouring in and around his eyelids. The ultimate outcome was an aura of absolute power. With his senses heightened in sage mode, Naruto could make out the minute details of his past battlefield. Each and every individual crack in the ground were not missed by his perceptive eyes; the cracked and snapped chakra rods that Pein was so fond of using in battle could also be seen strewn across their battlefield; and the stones of differing sizes that had once made up Pein's planetary devastation were taken in. Naruto's eyes softened at the sight of those stones. It was as he was among those stones within the planetary devastation that he met his father. He chuckled at the memory of their meeting, recalling his actions towards him.

'Only I would punch the father that I'd always wanted to meet.'

He was filled with a sense of contentment as he began to understand that the father that he had always longed for had loved him so much; had enough faith in him to seal away the savage power of the Kyubi inside of him. The seal on his belly was not a curse, but a symbol of the love and trust his parents had for him.

'AND he was the Yondaim! My FATHER was the Yondaim Hokage! Can you believe that! Dattebyo!' he thought, his chest swelling with pride. 'I'll definitely have to train extra, EXTRA hard to surpass him! I'll definitely be the strongest hokage ever, and make Otou-san proud! Dattebayo!', his cheeky gin taking over his face.

His eyes continued to scan over the foundations on the battleground, taking in every little detail. And gradually, he began to focus on the almost invisible details; a drop of blood here, a splash there. Then, his breath caught in his throat, making him whimper and choke in audible mash as his eyes finally settled on a boulder that had been splattered with the now darkening liquid. The boulder seemed to bathe itself in the pool of brown, clotting blood that had once contained the life force of a very timid; very BRAVE kunoichi. Staring at the horrible, bloody scene made the blond haired ninja become overcome with distress, helplessness and shame as memories of the previous day's fight came back to him; from the moment SHE had stepped in.

_He was enraged. "Why'd you come here?" he demanded, "Run! You can't win—"_

_"I know." She replied quietly. "I'm just being selfish." _

That had puzzled him to such an extent that he thought he had been hallucinating. But the pain caused from the chakra rods protruding from his body told him otherwise.

_"What are you talking about? Why expose yourself like this?"_

_She had paused for a moment, watching for any reaction from Pein. He was staring at her, his head cocked slightly to the side. Daring her, begging her to give him an answer._

_"I'm here because I want to be." She said, "I used to be such a crybaby, always giving up before even starting..." she refused to look at him. "I took the wrong path so many times..."_

_She took a deep, ragged breath. "But you... you helped me find my way and take the correct path, Naruto... I always chased after you, wanting to catch up. Wanting to walk with you forever."_

_A tear roll down her cheek. She smiled. "I want to be at your side, always. You changed me, Naruto. Your smiling face saved me. Your SMILE saved me! And that's why I'm not afraid to die defending you!" She clenched her fists._

_"Because... __I love you__." No blush coloured her cheeks._

_He just lay there in shock. Unable to react to the outburst that so clearly came from her heart; unable to think; unable to even breathe. It was as if her emotions had taken their strength from HIM, and thus, he was forced to watch her as she ran at the enemy with everything she had. _

_ "__Juho-soshiken! Twin lion fists!" __she bellowed._

_Pein looked vaguely irritated. __"Shinra-tensei! Almighty push!" __he said, flicking her back with one quick movement of his wrist. She screamed – the force was immense. She skidded along the rocky ground, the sounds of skin shredding and bones crunching filled his ears. But she got up, only to be blasted into the ground again and again as she desperately tried to free him from the chakra rods that bound him to the ground. And then, she could no longer fight. He watched, sorrow taking ahold of him as she staggered toward him, eventually crawling her way to him, to attempt to pull out the thick rod from his hands. _

_ "Why, does someone as weak as you continue to fight, knowing you cannot defeat me," Pein had somewhat demanded._

_ And that's when he heard it. Her voice declaring his nindo. And then she was gone. Lifted up into the sky, almost as if she was gracefully dancing, before her body slammed once more into the hard ground. He despairingly watched as Pein produced another chakra rod and—_

He couldn't rid himself of the gut wrenching sound of metal viciously piercing flesh. Couldn't un-see the horror of watching a friend's blood flood over the dry land.

He was surprised to feel streams of tears flowing down his cheeks as he relived that horrific moment in time.

"Hinata-chan… Hinata-chan!" he found himself sobbing her name over and over again. "How! How could you love… someone like me!?" She had done so much for him during that battle. If it wasn't for her, his grief would not have taken over and forced him into Kyuubi mode. If it wasn't for her; he would never have met his Otou-san; and he never would have prevailed in that battle, and Nagato would not have resurrected half the village back into the world of the living.

She hadn't died, or anything! No! He would be grieving much harder if she had. It was Nagato's Rōmaji, Gedō: Rinne Tensei no Jutsu that had enabled Hinata's life force to linger a while longer, while Sakura had stabilized her. No, his grief was caused by the fact that he wasn't strong enough to protect those precious people that he cared for, Hinata included.

_'Everything about her now makes sense. The stuttering, the fainting and her adoption of my nindo all make it so clear to me now that she genuinely loves for me; for all the right reasons too! But… I cant allow her to sacrifice herself again, not ever. I can't accept her feelings! But… I can't reject them either. I refuse to hurt her!'_

"I will not address her words from the battlefield. I can't let her… WON'T let her get hurt because of me again… I'll keep her at arms length, to protect her! Dattebayo! This is the only way…" he muttered to himself, as he got up from the splintered mess and headed for his tent.

**However, ****what's meant to be will always find a way to become reality.**


End file.
